Nicaragua is the next Costa Rica!
In March, I was in Nicaragua with 3 smelly boys (Steve, Jeff, and Gary) and it was seriously one of the best trips I’ve ever been on.
Costa Rica has been a destination for many of my friends and friends of friends as of late as the place to go for adventure travel. I am telling you right now that Nicaragua is the next Costa Rica.
I went for about 8 days and me and my boys did a sort of half ass backpacking trip. We started out in Granada and that was sort of our home base. We stayed at an amazing hotel called Hotel Con Corazon, which was recommended to Steve by one of his friends who had been there a few months before. It is actually owned by a Dutch guy named Marcel and he was so hospitable. The hotel is cozy and has air conditioned rooms with comfortable beds and their own bathrooms. There is also an open air eating area where we had our inclusive breakfast in the mornings. This was where Jeff taught me how to say, “Me gusta un piquito placo del tosino, por favor.” I would like a small plate of bacon please. There was also a small pool which we lounged around in after a few nights of too many Tona beers. All of this for less than $20 USD a night. They also had these amazing 3 course dinners there for about $7 USD.
We also had a great tour guide named Bosco who showed us around Nicaragua. He drove us to the Mombacho Canopy Tour, where clumsy me managed to somehow hit my head while zip-lining (ouch!). It’s a good thing I was tan so you couldn’t see the bruise. After the zip-lining, we went to this restaurant by the water that literally had the BEST FISH EVER. I have no idea what it was called and now I’m upset that I don’t know. But ask Bosco and he’ll take you there.
BEST FISH EVER
Gary having an intimate moment with his poor fishie.
We rented bikes on one of the first days we were in Granada and took a tour of the city on our own. It’s a beautiful city with lots of color, old churches, great restaurants, and friendly people.
We took a couple of days and went to Ometepe, one of the many volcanoes in Nicaragua where we took an 8 hour hike up and back down the Volcano Maderas. It was seriously one of the most physically challenging things I have ever done. Thanks to Jeff’s upbeat nature, Steve and Jeff carrying my day pack, and some Chinese beef jerky, I survived. The morning of the hike, we were supposed to wake up at the gosh-awful early hour of 4:30am. We were all kind of screwy with the time difference and our watches/cell phones and Jeff ended up waking us up over an hour early and running around the complex at Hotel Valencia like a mad man.
At the time, I’m not sure that I appreciated how beautiful it was because it was 95 degrees F and humid and muddy, but it really was an amazing hike. We saw monkeys, some crazy trees, and hiked over 1200 meters. The lush greenery that grew on that volcano was really something. I’d definitely do it again (although I would not have said that right after the hike).
Made it to the top and climbed into the crater. Now only 3 more hours back down.
Hotel Valencia was located in Ometepe and was absolutely gorgeous. The hotel was located literally right on the beach and there were hiking trails all over. There were also different levels of rooms you could stay in which ranged from $6 for dorm beds, $15 for private rooms with a bathroom, and even villas on the property. I can’t seem to locate the website for it and not sure it’s the kind of place that had one. But definitely up and coming because they were building out the villas.
There is so much more that I want to write about Nicaragua, I’ll save it for another post!
